Service Learning was also at the centre of CIVIS Days 2025, with a plenary session titled “Learning Experience in Service Learning at Institutional and National Levels” bringing together leading voices in civic education to explore how Service Learning (SL) can become a catalyst for civic engagement in higher education across Europe and beyond.
The session, moderated by Valérie Caraguel (Aix-Marseille Université) featured contributions from Mohammed Moola (University of the Witwatersrand) and Pilar Aramburuzabal (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), who shared their institutional and national experiences in embedding Service Learning into academic life.
During the closing plenary, Professor Aramburuzabal highlighted Spain’s structured approach to Service Learning, where national frameworks and policy support have enabled universities to integrate SL into curricula at scale. She emphasised the importance of institutional commitment, faculty development, and community partnerships as essential pillars for sustainable implementation. Her message was clear: Service Learning must be embedded not as an add-on, but as a core pedagogical strategy that enhances both academic learning and civic responsibility.
From a South African perspective, Mohammed Moola offered a powerful reflection on the transformative potential of SL in contexts marked by inequality and social complexity. He underscored the need for universities to act as agents of social change, and for SL to be grounded in reciprocity, ethical engagement, and co-creation with communities. Moola also stressed the value of student agency, noting that SL empowers learners to become active participants in addressing real-world challenges.
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Briefing paper: Building a bridge towards Africa and the Mediterranean Region (2021)
Building partnerships with African and Mediterranean universities outside Europe is an importantstrategic aim of CIVIS and one of its distinct features as a European University alliance (1). By 2022, the end of CIVIS’ “fabric phase”, our alliance seeks to win at least one partner institution in the target regions for each of its established thematic Hubs (2). This implies initiating some first joint pilot projects as well as to prepare and adopt longer-term strategic partnership agreements between CIVIS and partner universities.- Global partnerships
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Sensing Our Environment Together: Citizen Sciences for Climate and Air Quality (Workshop Report, 2025)
The workshop “Sensing Our Environment Together: Citizen Sciences for Climate and Air Quality” (30 September–1 October 2025) brought together academics, associations, and local stakeholders committed to addressing climate and air‑quality challenges through participatory research. Designed as a prototype for future CIVIS Open Labs, the event fostered dialogue between diverse actors, encouraged the exchange of methodologies, and highlighted the value of inclusive, science-based action. By convening experts and communities across different territories, the workshop aimed to enhance transnational collaboration and strengthen the collective capacity to address environmental issues.- Challenged-based approach
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- Participatory research
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- Students
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